A Real Cliffhanger

The Providence Community Library is turning to the city’s daredevils for fundraising

Posted
Friday, April 20, 2018 12:05 pm

Photo courtesy of Over the Edge

Typically rappelling down the side of a building falls exclusively into the domain of stuntmen, cat burglars, and secret agents. Hence our surprise when the Providence Community Library decided to trade its usual literary events for a fundraiser where brave souls get to take a 12 story leap over the side of the Regency Plaza Apartments.

“We had been doing pretty standard fundraisers every spring, your cocktail party sort of things,” explains PCL Development Director Steve Kumins. “But there’s a cap to what you can raise through those unless you’re expanding the audience.” So when Over the Edge, a Canadian outdoor events company that has been turning non-profit donors into daredevils for the last decade, reached out to PCL, Kumins saw the chance to mix things up.

With a goal of raising $100,000 by June 23, the first 90 wannabe wall crawlers to raise $1,000 will get the chance to strap into a rappelling harness and walk down the 120 foot side of the building. Proceeds will go towards programming and equipment at PCL, with a lot of it specifically funding youth programs “But just about anybody who uses the library will benefit from it,” says PCL Public Relations Manager Janet Fuentes.

Whether or not there will be a crew of librarians on the roof hushing rappellers as they scream on their way down remains to be seen, but one can only hope.